The Boy in The Mirror
by valdezy
Summary: He was a wizard in her mirror, and he promised to make her life better. But she didn't want the price to be this. Inspired by the song 'Magical Mirror'.


**This is based off of the song Magical Mirror by Kagamine Rin and Len. **

* * *

She snuggled up against the cold glass, staring into the distance outside the window, at the stars that twinkled in a way that seemed so unreal.

"Tell me a story," She demanded quietly. The boy on the other side of the mirror smiled.

"Sure." And he started off on a great story about a princess who lived in a castle, in a kingdom that had been at peace for ages. He told her about the great love the kingdom had for their princess, and how she was a beautiful girl, radiant and always smiling. She was happy, healthy, kind, and loved by all. He launched into the great stories of the princess and her everyday exploits, and the boy in the mirror smiled, his eyes crinkling, as he told this tale. Leaning her head against the mirror, Rin fell asleep with a smile on her face for the first time in what seemed like forever.

* * *

Len blinked as light flooded his vision. What was going on? He rubbed his eyes, and slowly, a girl blurrily came into his vision. She looked shocked and a little bit scared as she clutched at the heavy tarp in her hands as if it was the only thing keeping her grounded. Her dress looked old and it was covered in dust, but that didn't bother Len. What really got to him was her face, her eyes. She looked so much like him it was uncanny. But her eyes- she seemed so sad.

The girl leaned forward, eyes wide and lips parted.

"Hello?" She asked quietly, staring intently at the mirror. She fingered the edge of her dress nervously, and Len smiled to try to reassure her. He looked around the room the girl was standing in, and he realized- it looked just like his attic. Except it looked like it did back when he was a child, the moments he hardly remembered, the horrible times that he tried to repress from his thoughts as much as he could. And that was when Len figured it out. Why this girl was so sad.

And why he needed to fix it. _He needed to fix this. It was wrong.  
_

He must have been staring at the girl, because she tapped on the mirror, and then shakily moved back as if scared he would be angry at her. Len smiled at her, and she seemed to relax a bit.

"Hi," He replied. She seemed shocked that the person in her mirror replied, and her eyes widened again.

"You're- My mirror- A boy-" She stuttered, clutching at her dress. She coughed and then started again. "You're in my mirror." She stated.

"That I am." Len replied smoothly. "And you're in mine, did you know?" She seemed surprised by this information.

"I'm...I'm in your mirror? But, that can't be right. I'm in my attic..." She trailed off. "I just found it today. How could I be in your mirror?"

Len laughed and the girl on the other side seemed to think he was mocking her, as she began to fidget and her cheeks flushed. "Well, how could I be in yours?" Len asked her. "I haven't seen you before today, so the mirrors are connected, obviously. And since you found it today and pulled off the tarp," He gestured to the cloth on the ground, long forgotten. "Well, here I am, I suppose."

She leaned in closer to the glass and seemed to be inspecting him. Len could almost touch her, if they weren't separated by the glass between their worlds.

"Who...who are you, anyway?" She inquired.

"I could ask the same of you," Len grinned, although he already had an idea of who she might be.

"I asked first, though." She replied.

"Fair enough. I'm Len. I'm a wizard." A wizard was good. That would explain the magic he could use to fix her life. _And screw up mine, _he thought, but he pushed that train of thinking away before his selfishness could cause any more pain.

"A _wizard?" _She repeated, blue eyes overflowing with disbelief.

"Uh huh. Magic and everything." Len wiggled his fingers a bit for emphasis and her eyes widened. "Before we get into anything else, though, mind telling me your name?"

The girl flushed and looked down at the ground before whispering, "...Rin."

"Pretty name." Len smiled.

"Really?" Rin's head shot up, and she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Of course! No one's ever told you that before?" He asked her.

"...Um...No. Not really. Not many people say much of anything to me, actually. It's kind of like I'm not there at all. I think it's my fault. I must have done something wrong, right?" She looked at him, searching his face for some kind of confirmation that yes, indeed, she did make a mistake and that's why people looked through her.

Len could practically hear his heart break. "No!" He replied quickly, and the girl jumped back from his sudden outburst.  
"...What?" She asked. Len tried to calm down, take a deep breath. In, out, in, out. He didn't need to scare Rin or make her more upset. She needed a friend.

And he was going to be her friend and fix this if it was the last damn thing he did.

"No...no, it's not your fault that people don't pay attention to you. You seem like a lovely girl. How could anyone ever be upset with someone as sweet as you?"

Rin gasped, and tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.

"Thank- Thank you!" She choked out, tears flowing freely down her face now. She must look so weak...but it had been ages, _too long that she couldn't remember the last time, _since anyone had been kind to her. For all she could remember, anyone and everyone looked through her like she was a ghost, hardly paying her attention. And when and if anyone ever did, it was not the attention she so longed and craved.

She still had bruises and scars from those times.

Legs shaking, although they had for all her life, she sat down on the creaky attic floor with a heavy 'thump'. Her dress puffed and floated down to the dusty floor, settling with a heavy comfort on her legs. In the corner of her eye, she could see the wizard- _Len, _she reminded herself, joining her on the floor. She covered her eyes in her hands and choked back her sobs. She couldn't- she couldn't break down. Not here, not in front of someone else.

That was Rin's one rule: You can cry. As much as you want, or as much as you need, but never, _never, _in front of others.  
Whether they saw through her or not, Rin could not seem broken. It would make things worse, she knew. It brought about the bad kind of attention, and she had learned her lesson. Multiple times, each worse than the last.

But here she was, breaking her one rule in front of a boy, one who was kind to her, and could maybe fix things. _You're ruining any chance you have! _She chided herself, and slowly tried to sniffle back her sobs and rub the tears out of her eyes. She just prayed Len would be kind and forgive her for her breakdown- she needed his magic...and she needed a friend.

* * *

Len stayed with Rin the whole night. He wasn't going to leave her on the ground, crying her life away. She needed comfort, that much he could tell. _Of course,_ he thought dryly, _I'm not much comfort stuck on the other side of her mirror, am I? More like a spectator to her personal waterfall. _Len sat on the floor, absorbed in his thoughts, when he realized that the shaking girl was slowly standing up, and the constant noise of sobbing in the background had stopped. Rin rubbed her eyes, and he could see her face was red.

"...I'm sorry," She apologized quickly. And then it looked as though she couldn't stop, as she rushed out an apology (an unnecessary one) faster than Len thought was possible. "I am so, so sorry, Len sir, I didn't mean to cry and I am completely aware of how pathetic that was, I just, it caught me off guard when you were kind to me and it's just been a while since that's happened so there was that...And you know how once you start crying you just can't stop thinking bad things? And then all the horrible things you've ever done or that have ever happened to you just kind of pile up until you're stuck under them all...and sometimes you just need some time to pull yourself out and that's exactly what happened to me and I am so sorry for involving you in my problems, Mr. Len, so I hope this doesn't change anything and that you will be able to forgive me..." She flushed and clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm ranting, aren't I?" She squeaked. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm not very good at this sort of thing!" And then Rin was staring at the ground again, this time twirling a strand of golden hair to survive the nerves.

"I'd prefer if you just call me 'Len,'" He started. "And it's fine. You don't have to apologize, you know. Sometimes people just need a break." Rin stared at him and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You're not annoyed or upset with me?" She asked.

"'Course not. You did nothing wrong." Len smiled at her, and she hesitantly smiled back. "You should smile more," Len told her. "You're pretty when you do."

She blushed and looked away, and Len grinned. "Hey, come here."

"Uh, alright." Rin moved in closer to the mirror, and Len placed his hand on the glass.

"Just do that, okay? Put your hand on the mirror right where mine is." Rin nodded and did as Len told her.

Len closed his eyes and focused. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing here, but he had to do this. Rin deserved better than she had. He stole her life away, and he was going to give it back. Len focused on that feeling, and he felt s_omething _happening. He heard Rin gasp, and his suspicions were confirmed. He thought harder about how he wanted to help her, and what he was going to give back to her.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The space around their hands on separate sides of the mirror was glowing. Rin's eyes were wide and she looked as if she had never seen anything so amazing.

"Is this magic?" She whispered, and Len laughed.

"Yeah."

"What's it doing?"

"You'll see," Len winked. She looked shocked. "Don't be scared or anything, I promise you it's good! I bet I just made one of your dreams come true or something."

"Um."

"What?" Len wondered.

"Nothing, just- you're nice."

"I'd hope so!"

"And, uh, well, I was wondering, if it'd be okay if you were...my friend."

"But we're already friends, Rin!"

* * *

It was months later when Rin began to feel as though there was something wrong. Len was always acting a bit...off. His smile had seemed strained for a while now, and Rin had been having a bad feeling. It cracked through her joy like a black stain, damaging the happiness Len had given her with his magic.

When she had moved to the castle, she had insisted the mirror be taken with her. It was her only connection to Len, and therefore, the most important thing in her life. The things Len had given her were amazing, but by far, he was the most valuable of them all. He had sat down with her that one night, on the opposite side of the mirror, and told her a story. She had listened as his melodic voice floated over her like a blanket, pushing her into good dreams. And then those dreams had become a reality.

The war had finally ended; at that point it didn't even matter to her who won, she just wished it would end. The cries of pain when loved ones found themselves missing their other halves or when mothers received the news of their child's valiant death always made her want to cry. So when she heard the screams of joy radiating throughout the town, the yells of "It's over!" and "We won!", Rin did cry. She sat down on the dusty floor, buried her arms in her hands, and sobbed with a smile on her face. She thought that was the best day of her life.

A few weeks later, a little girl in the village smiled at her and offered her a flower from the bunch in her hands. Rin had been so shocked that she dropped everything she had been carrying. The little girl had looked confused and started to lower her hand, but Rin had quickly smiled and taken the flower. The smile on the little girl's face was enough to make Rin sleep soundly that night.

As time went by, everyone in the town talked to her as though she had always been around, a permanent part of their lives. Rin didn't understand but she also didn't complain; she was terrified if she did it would be ripped away from her again. She smiled and laughed and slowly, she felt as much of a part of their lives as they seemed to think she was.

Everyone stared as the soldiers marched down the cobbled streets, headed towards her run-down and rusty home. Rin had heard the rhythmic stomps on the ground and rushed to the window to see what the commotion was- only to receive the biggest surprise of her life when one of the guards stepped forward to knock on her door. The rest of the day was a blur. The soldiers were there to, 'bring the princess back home,'. Rin happily obliged. This was a dream, of course, she reasoned with herself. This was a common fantasy of hers. And while Rin knew it would never be true, she saw no harm in following the story as it played out in her dreams. And when the soldiers asked Rin how much she would be taking to the castle, she came out with a small bag and a large mirror.

"Rin!" She heard the excited voice before she saw him. The mirror now resided in a beautiful room, filled to the brim with paintings and lush carpets. Rin, abandoning all sense of royalty, squealed like a child and rushed to see her best friend.

"Hi, Len! It's been too long! Where've you been these last two weeks? I kept coming to the mirror every day, but you were never there."

Len blushed and looked at the floor. "Sorry, Rin. I've had a busy time over here." Something seemed rushed about his response, but Rin decided to ignore it for now.

"You know, I miss you," Rin shyly replied. "You should come more often, I want to see you. Maybe there's even some magic that would let us go to each other's side of the mirror?" Len's face fell at her request.

"That's not possible, Rin, I'm sorry. I wish it was." Rin's face fell.

"Oh." Len was silent, waiting for Rin to say something else. But Rin was too busy looking at her legs. They were shaking again. They hadn't shaken like this since the magic was cast. Rin glanced up at Len, and saw him staring at her sadly. "Len?" She whispered, that dark and uneasy feeling settling over her again.

"What's going on?"

"I...I have to go, Rin. And I can't come back." Rin's felt her heart stop in her chest.

"...What?"

"It's the opposite here, Rin," Len hastily explained, the words tumbling from his mouth as fast as he could. "Everything you have now, I took from you. That's why you had such a bad life. I...I s_tole it from you!" _Len clutched at the fabric of his clothes, feeling tears start to drip down his face. "You were supposed to have all of this your whole life, but I took it from you. So now things are back to the way they were. You have your fairytale, and it's my time to live in the shadows. But I'm...I'm like a parasite, Rin. Even if I don't want to, just being here, I'll eat away at your happiness. Everything you have now will slowly start to get pulled back to my world, and I can't do that again. I can't take away your happiness, not after I just fixed it. So, I have to leave." Len was really crying now, taking heaving breaths as salty tears left tracks on his cheeks and dripped off his chin.

"I'm sorry, Rin, this isn't what I wanted." Len knew how pathetic he must look, but he just couldn't stop this damn crying. He didn't want to never see Rin again. She was his best friend, and he had started feeling as though she was something more. But these were just dreams, and it was time to face the reality. He was a horrible mess who stole the joy from her life. If he stayed any longer, he would suck it right back out, turn her life back to that hell. He'd never wish it on anybody; it was his time to face it now.

Rin hadn't moved from where she sat, but tears were flowing freely down her face as well now. Her eyes widened, and she rushed forward to the mirror, her hair flying around her face and catching the tears as they fell.

"_No!_" She screamed, pounding her fist on the mirror. "I don't care, Len! I don't care if my life goes back to the way it was! I can't be happy without you! I can't live without you! _You're _the reason I'm not the same wreck I was when we first met! Forget about everything else, Len, I need you. You can't leave me now, you can't do this. Take everything I have again, I don't care. I don't care what you did, I don't care what you do. Just...please. _Please, _Len. Don't leave." She slumped in front of the mirror, her hand resting on the cold glass, eyes glistening with tears, sniffling as she begged.

"I'm sorry, Rin. I'm not worth it. I'm a pathetic and evil mess that stole your happiness. Besides, it's too late." Len looked down at himself, and it was with horror that Rin realized he was fading, melting away from the mirror.

"No no no no no no no," She chanted, like a mantra that would make him come back. "Don't do this, Len. Please, please, don't. I can't do this without you."

Len was still crying, but he tried to pull himself together, and smiled at her. "You don't need me, Rin. You're perfect. You don't need me to rip everything you deserve away." He didn't want to make her cry, didn't want the last memory he had of Rin to be her sobbing hysterically. It was even worse, because he had done this. He was the reason she was crying. He brought pain to her, it'd be better when he left.

Len was fading faster, and Rin rushed forward. On instinct, Rin stuck her hand out to pull him back, and was shocked when her hand reached through into the abyss of the mirror. Not having time to think about this, she gripped the side of the mirror and reached as far in as she could go. Rin felt Len's hand brush up against hers lightly, and she grabbed at it as much as she could, but she couldn't get a grip on it. Her tears glistened on her face like little wet stars, and they fell like lights into the blackness.

"Bye, Rin." Len whispered, as he fell into the abyss, trapped on his side of the mirror forever.

* * *

Rin's hand was still in the mirror when the glass started to repair itself and the wall between the worlds closed up. She fought against the glass, trying to reach Len, as cuts erupted on her face and arms where the unusually strong glass repaired itself. She was thrown out from the mirror, hair cut at odd angles, tears streaming down her face as silent sobs wracked her body.

That was how she was found in the morning, as servants rushed into the room and asked her worriedly what happened. They sounded like a bad recording, background noise drowned out by Len's last words to her. _She never got to tell him she loved him._

* * *

The mirror sitting in the room with the closed door was Rin's most treasured possession. No one was allowed in there but her, and every day of the week at the same time she would go to that room for an hour or two. It had been years since she was found in the room, crying and bleeding, and she never seemed to have fully recovered. No one but her knew what really happened.

A servant, overcome by curiosity, once poked her head into the room with the mirror. She was met by a large space, covered in paintings with a mirror in the middle. Rin was sitting on a blanket on the floor in front of the mirror, reading, seemingly waiting. In front of the mirror and surrounding it were piles and piles of unopened letters, and flower petals dotted the floor in clumps. Rin heard the servant close the door quietly and pretended as if she never noticed at all. She was waiting, as she always would. Waiting for Len to come back.

* * *

**I've never been exactly a fan of Vocaloid, but my friend showed me that song and I had to write something about it. **

**So guys, feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think!**


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